Recap / Big City Greens S 2 E 27

It's all-you-can-eat every day! ...Until you suffer horrendous side-effects.

Fast Foodie

When a new Burger Clown restaurant opens next door, Cricket and Tilly try to prove to Bill they can eat there every day for every meal with no adverse side effects, but are soon proven wrong.

"Fast Foodie" contains examples of:

• Armor-Piercing Question: What leads to Cricket coming to his senses:
  Cricket: This is everything I wanted: Me, the slide, and Burger Clown!
  Bill: Cricket, look at yourself! You're out of breath, you feel terrible, and you're stuck in a slide! Do you really wanna spend the rest of your life in a slide?
• Balloon Belly: Consuming so much fast food leaves Cricket all roly-poly.
• The Bet: Cricket makes a wager that he and Tilly can eat at Burger Clown for every meal every day and have no consequence from it. Guess what happens.
• Big "NO!": Bill shouts a big one, after Cricket says he wants to go to Burger Clown again.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Burger Clown is shut down, reverting to the vacant site from "Chipocalypse Now" onwards. Despite that, Cricket's not sad about it, as not having his favorite restaurant next door is for the best.
• Bottle Episode: The majority of the episode is set at Elkins Street.
• Break the Haughty:
  • Cricket immediately drops his obsession over Burger Clown once he's stuck in the slide and Bill asks him if he wants to live there forever.
  • Completely averted with Mr. Burger Clown. When Media Maria interviews him about the "scandal" that closed down his newest franchise, a situation that would normally make someone at least want to appear a little remorseful, he's not the least bit upset and shows no guilt for any of it.
    Mr. Burger Clown: Why, I'm FINE! It'll take a sack a' HAMMAS t' take me out! Hey, kiddos! Come visit any one of my otha six hundred locations! Hee-YUK!
    [He quickly cartwheels and somersaults into his limo, which does a wheelie and speeds off]
• Burger Fool: Gloria found a job at Burger Clown (but ends up either laid off or quitting after the place closes).
• Clue, Evidence, and a Smoking Gun: Bill discovers that Cricket has escaped his room. Using her newly enhanced senses, Tilly deduces that Cricket tried to get out through his secret exit but couldn't fit through, then laid down for a nap, leaving a pool of sweat on the floor. And then she indicates the Impact Silhouette he left as he leapt through the window.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The next-door Burger Clown is forced to be closed down simply because Cricket and Bill got stuck in the slide at both ends.
• Elderly Future Fantasy: The end of Cricket's vision of himself spending his life trapped in the slide is an aged Tilly in a wheelchair coming to visit him, his butt now wearing dark glasses and having grown a long white beard.
  Elderly Tilly: You're an old butt now, brother. [Pokes his rear with her cane] Was it WORTH it?
• The Fat Episode: The episode deals with Cricket eating Burger Clown food for every meal every day so much he becomes extremely gluttonous and blown-up.
• Felony Misdemeanor: Cricket and Bill getting stuck in the slide is what causes Burger Clown to immediately close down.
• Foreshadowing: In the "Burgs and Fries" song, Cricket sings, "I'll eat until I cry!" which is exactly what happens when Bill asks Cricket if he wants to be stuck in a slide for the rest of his life.
• Funny Background Event: As Mr. Burger Clown begins his song, Gloria can be seen resignedly dancing along.
• Gluttony Montage: Cricket and Tilly pig out on fast food all throughout the "Burgs and Fries" song.
• Goofy Suit: The guy dressed as the Burger Clown mascot. He later turned out to be the company CEO.
• Go to Your Room!: Bill orders Cricket this after catching him disobeying him and Remy secretly giving him burgers.
• Graceful Loser: The Burger Clown CEO isn't bothered by losing his latest restaurant as he still has 600 functioning Burger Clown joints all across America.
• Green Around the Gills: Tilly gets so sick from eating junk food she turns green. "Greener than usual," according to Cricket.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Cricket gets stuck in a slide from getting too fat. Unfortunately, Bill gets stuck on the other end trying to get him out.
• Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with Cricket having learned his lesson and back to his regular shape... then he asks to go to Burger Clown again.
• Impact Silhouette: Cricket left his impression on the window pane as he escaped to the Burger Clown playground. Lampshaded by Tilly when she indicates how he left such a neat silhouette.
• Kids' Meal Toy: An In-Universe example; Tilly gets a figure of Mr. Burger Clown that squeaks when squeezed with her meal.
• Literal-Minded: Bill only uses the term "bet" metaphorically when he tries to warn Cricket eating Burger Clown food all the time will make him sick within a week, but Cricket takes the term literally and makes a real bet with him.
• Monster Clown: The Burger Clown mascot borders on this as his mannerisms can be described as rather unsettling. Such as pulling out burgers from his suit and forcing the Green family to take them.
  Maria Media: He may be a clown, but I'm not laughing.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Cricket and Bill getting stuck in the slide at both ends is what causes the next door Burger Clown to shut down, but Cricket says it's for the best.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Bill takes the family to the new Burger Clown as a treat. After telling him that they can't eat there all the time, however, Cricket bets he and Tilly can eat fast food all the time. Cue the two eating so much until they're bloated and sick.
• Shout-Out:
  • The episode title shares its name with a TruTV original.
  • The song Mr. Burger Clown sings for Cricket and Tilly is a parody of "Be Our Guest".
  • Cricket gets stuck in the slide like how Winnie the Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's front door.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Gramma suddenly disappears about 3 and a half minutes into the episode, to make Cricket's weighty experience more unsettling and forboding.
• Status Quo Is God: At the end of the episode, the Burger Clown next to the Greens closes, leaving the old Big Coffee site unoccupied again.
• Sudden Eye Color: When Tilly is showing her enhanced sight from eating vegetables, she gains jade green irises for a split second.
• Super-Senses: As a sign of her body returning to normal by eating her healthy vegetables, Tilly's senses become heightened and enhanced ...back to their normal extremes.
• Tears of Remorse: Cricket sheds them upon realizing the consequences of eating at Burger Clown so much and wishes he were out of the slide and back home.
• Temporary Bulk Change: Eating nothing but Burger Clown food for a week makes Cricket get incredibly fat.
• Wanting Is Better Than Having: Cricket is late to this realization when eating nothing but Burger Clown results in him all fat and weighty, and winds up stuck in a slide as a result.
• A Weighty Aesop: When Burger Clown opens next door, Cricket bets he and Tilly can eat there all the time. Eventually it causes the two to become ill (Tilly) and bloated (Cricket), but this doesn't stop Cricket until Bill helps him realize the truth.
• We Are Not Going Through That Again: Bill's reaction towards the end hints this. He doesn't want to deal with Cricket eating junk food again.
• Whole-Plot Reference: To Supersize Me.

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The following scene will result in a chain of events in our community.

Spaghetti Theory

Cricket and Tilly debate whether the lives of the Big Cityites are intertwined with each other.

"Spaghetti Theory" contains examples of:

• The Bus Came Back:
  • Mayor Hansock, from "Chipocalypse Now", reappears and makes his first appearance in a regular length episode.
  • Bella and Bash, from "Gramma Driver" return by robbing a jewelry store.
• Cassandra Truth: Cricket doesn't believe Tilly's spaghetti theory at first.
• Cerebus Retcon: Played for laughs. Remember that scene from "Uncaged" when a giraffe was eating Alexander's salad and he angrily told Terry that at least somebody likes his cooking? Well it is seen again and Alexander is very stressed about this, because Terry is very picky with his food.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Terry not liking what Alexander cooks was previously seen in "Uncaged".
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Tilly's spaghetti theory is always correct.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Vasquez is revealed to have come from a secret order of mercenaries called the Order of the Fang, and his former alias was Tiger Fang. His ex-compatriot, Viper Fang, tries to seek revenge claiming that the order is now in shambles after Vasquez left them.
• Given Name Reveal: This is the first time Alexander is mentioned by name.
• Glad I Thought of It: Cricket realizes Tilly was right all along about her spaghetti theory in the end, but claims such as his own using hot dogs, to Tilly's disappointment.
• Heavy Sleeper: Remy manages to nap all the way through Vasquez's fight with Viper Fang.
• Hit Flash: Happens when the kids' wagon hits a fire hydrant to avoid crashing into a strolling Gabriella.
• Hyperlink Story: This episode follows a series of events that link several Big City residents together, just as Tilly's "spaghetti theory" predicted.
• It Came from the Fridge: Or sink in Brett's case, as his kitchen sink is so full of dirty dishes that it's almost covered in green mold. When he absent-mindedly places his hand on the counter it quickly spreads across his entire body, making him panic.
• Kitschy Themed Restaurant: Gloria picks up a fondue delivery from a stereotypically Switzerland-themed cheese restaurant. Her attempting to joke about the theme and food doesn't go over well with the clerk she interacts with, who takes her job very seriously.
• Noodle Incident: Officer Keys has been involved in three robberies each with their own romantic moment.
• Out of Focus: Cricket and Tilly don't get as much screentime as the citygoers. Bill and Alice get even less screentime as they're only shown in the beginning and end of the episode.
• Race Against the Clock: Gloria has a few minutes to deliver a pot of hot fondue for a gig. When the time limit expires, the bubbling pot immediately cools and solidifies, suddenly becoming ridiculously dense like ball of steel.
• Red Herring: Gloria is supposed to order some fondue to Alexander's condo at 421 Grand Avenue; the house she ends up at is Gregly's, whose is 421 Grand Aavenue (with the second 'A' being really tiny on the plaque displaying the address). For bonus points, Gregly's door is red.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After bombing her first try at delivering the melted cheese, Gloria cuts her losses and resigns from her new job.
• Shout-Out:
  • The scene of Bill helping her mother Alice to turn off the house in flames, can remind you of the "Steamed Hams" segment from The Simpsons episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", specially because Principal Skinner and his mother are in a similar situation. The reference is all the more fitting as this is also an episode that takes a brief look at the lives of the side characters of the show.
  • Alexander cooking for Terry reminds you a lot of "Hell's Kitchen".
• Straight Gay: Alexander lives with his boyfriend named Terry. Terry doesn't show stereotypical traits featured with gay men but Alexander is shown to have a effeminate voice.
• Sudden Video-Game Moment: Gloria rushing to deliver food becomes a video game, complete with her Goomba Stomping bystanders and getting points for it.
• 13 Is Unlucky: Alexander's apartment is numbered #513.
• Trash of the Titans: Brett has his apartment made into a big mess.
• Unholy Matrimony: Bash asks to Bella's hand in marriage, since she accepted, they're technically this.
• The Voiceless: Aside from Terry, Gabriella is the only Big Citygoer who didn't have any dialogue for the episode.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: During the jewel heist, Bash takes the time to ask for Bella's hand in marriage by offering her a stolen diamond ring. The Jessie Expy eagerly accepts.
• Whole-Plot Reference: To The Simpsons episode "22 Short Films About Springfield".
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: When her cameraman expresses apprehension about sensationalist reporting, Maria Media scoffs that only a dumb-dumb would get worked up over her report about the danger of squirrels. Cut to Mayor Hansock freaking out and calling in security to comfort him.

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